


Lessons in Nowhere

by SilverRoseofLight



Category: Courage the Cowardly Dog, Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (Short Film)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-21 18:09:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11949795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverRoseofLight/pseuds/SilverRoseofLight
Summary: Or: How three Students and a Teacher end up on a pink dog's doorstep and what followed





	1. In the Middle of Nowhere

Courage was watching the empty desert of Nowhere with dull eyes when there was a swirl of pastel colors and the desert wasn't so empty anymore.

Under normal circumstances, he would've let out a blood-curdling shriek before darting back inside to vainly try to alert his owners of the possible danger. But as it was, the pink dog didn't have the will to scream, the energy to move, or anyone to warn. It had been so for a long time now, and he just couldn't even bring himself to care if the strangers that appeared before him were there for a cup of sugar or his destruction.

"Dammit Shrignold!" groans the one with feathery green hair and a sharp nose. "You just _had_ to stick us in the middle of nowhere, didn't you?"

The one called Shrignold is easily the strangest of the group, with pale blue skin and butterfly wings that seemed to be covered with childish scribbles. A glow's just dying from the designs and his eyes when he doubles over and hurls on the sand.

The remaining adult among them, a man with long red hair that covered most his face in thick strands, takes a step back, gently guiding a small, jaundiced child by the shoulder to do the same. "Gross."

The kid turns away from his vomiting companion with a clear look that said _Yuck_ and his eyes happen to land on the dog sitting on the porch. A grin breaks out on his face and he dashes towards him before the red-haired guy can react. "Doggie!"

"Manny, _don't_!"

The boy's fingers are soft, gentle and almost cloth-like against his matted fur. Courage lets out a small whine and leans towards the hand. He can't remember the last time Muriel petted him.

"Good doggie," the boy coos as he strokes the pink dog's back.

He seems like a nice kid, Courage decides, and licks the hand that nears his snout. The boy giggles at the rough tongue and continues to pet him.

"Manny," cautions the red-haired guy. "Step away from the dog slowly. It's pink and probably diseased and it might bite."

Courage's eyes flick upwards at the deep voice, then he snorts. The one time he got sick was when he licked the farmer's infected foot. That had been a horrible taste and a horrible thing to deal with. Vinegar gargling for a week so the acid would kill the fungus. Thank goodness Muriel kept a lot of it in stock.

Manny pouts. "He's friendly, look! He's wagging his tail!"

Sure enough, the stumpy little thing is swaying to and fro.

"He's _pink,"_ thered-haired guy protests. Red Guy, Courage muses, with the oddly bright scarlet of the man's hair and the plaid red shirt he wears.

Shrignold comes up to them, arm slung over the green guy's shoulders for support. Bits of rainbow-colored sick still dot his mouth and he looks a lot like he's about to fall over. His eyes settle on Courage for a moment, making him shift because they are oddly deep and glowing and seem to be seeing through him. "The dog's _fine_ ," he declares. "He hasn't eaten for a while and has probably been abandoned or is suffering from grief, but he's fine."

"How can you tell?" demands who Courage dubs the Duck Guy due to his pointy nose and weird scent not unlike those of the avian-like aliens he has encountered in the past.

"Robin, dogs are loyal. I can feel the _agapé_ for his dead owners still flowing out of him. That's unlikely if he. . .was. . .rabid. . ."

"Shrignold? _Shrignold_?" Duck Guy groans as the body goes limp. "Wonderful." He then eyes the farmhouse with something akin to relief. "At least _some_  good came out of this." He moves to open the door, butterfly man still leaning on him.

"Wait!"

They all turn to the boy. His hand is still on Courage's back and it takes a while for him to find his voice. "Shouldn't we. . ?shouldn't we ask him? I mean, it's his house. . ."

"Manny," Red Guy begins, "It's a _dog_ -"

"It's still _his_ , Harry!" he insists.

The man pinches the bridge of his nose. Or facepalms. It's hard to tell with all the hair covering his features. "Robin, can you-?"

"Harry, there's a half-dead Teacher on my shoulders and my side's still bleeding. Do I look like I'm in the mood to convince him?"

It doesn't take long for them to get so caught up in arguing that the kid -Manny, if Courage heard right- ends up looking distraught at having spoken up at all. The look on his face is so similar to Muriel's whenever she ended up accidentally upsetting her husband that Courage gets up on his hind legs - "Tricks!" the boy mouths in awe - and opens the door for them. The adults don't even notice it until Manny passes by them.

"Smart doggie," Manny smiles as he pets Courage's head and enters the house.

The two then gape at the standing dog, then glance at each other disbelievingly. Courage returns the looks with a smug look of his own and drops back down on all fours before trotting inside. 

Harry quickly enters the house after him to make sure the kid isn't in danger, leaving Robin still propping up the unconscious Shrignold.

"When you wake up," he tells the unconscious Teacher with a glare, "I _will_  stab you."


	2. His House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a boy and a dog bond.

The house is nice, if old and a little dusty. There's a basement, a kitchen _and_ a dining room unlike the stuffy little apartment they last lived in, and there's even a soft armchair in the living room for Harry and one of those rocking chairs Robin likes  _and_ a television just like in their first house.

"Doggie?" He calls out. The dog must have disappeared sometime during his wandering. He should say thank you to him, right? And maybe sorry, because this nice house would probably get destroyed within the week. "Doggie, where are you?"

His search is interrupted by a familiar hand on his shoulder. "Manny," Harry says with a tired sort of anger. "Let me go into weird houses before you next time, alright?"

"But-"

"Manny," he says in a strained tone. "Just don't, okay?"

Harry really does look so tired and Manny doesn't want to make him worry, so he says "Okay." Not that he would stop looking for the dog. "I went through all the rooms already though."

A slight shifting of hair from a raised eyebrow.

"Just the ground floor," he promises. "I didn't go near the stairs."

Harry's shoulders sag in relief and he sinks into the red armchair. The boy finds it both funny and just a bit disturbing how close the red of it matches the red of his friend's hair. Like he was melting into it.

The long-haired man is mumbling something about axes and wards when Robin comes in.

"You are useless, Harry," he grumbles as he leaves the Teacher lying face-down on the carpet. He turns to Manny. "Does this place have running water?"

"There's a kitchen," he answers, pointing at the doorway leading to it.

"Close enough."

He follows Robin as the man trudges to the kitchen sink with his hand pressed against his side.

Manny frowns at the blood dripping to the floor. "Is it deep?"

"It was a spear, Manny. A fuuuu. . .a _fudging_ five-foot spear."

"Oh." He didn't see the weapons. Or their users for that matter. Harry just told him to stay hidden again until they could grab Robin and get out. He had obeyed, making himself small and clutching the knife Robin had dropped in case he'd be seen. Speaking of which. . . "I still have your knife."

"Later," he says as he turns the tap. Cold, refreshing water flows out and Robin begins undoing his red-stained jacket to get to the injury. "Go and check on the pesky bee," he tells the boy. "I'll be fine, but this might get. . .messy."

Manny didn't need to be told twice.

Shrignold is still knocked out from transporting them to wherever they are and Harry is sleeping when he checks. He helps prop the Teacher against the wall so he wouldn't be breathing in dirty carpet and takes advantage of his guardians all being busy to leave the house.

The sun is setting and casting a bright orangey light across the desert when he steps out, making his shadow stretch out against the sands. He smiles at it, because his shadow seems to be the only thing about him that grows nowadays, and walks around the house. There is windmill turning high above his head. . .with some symbol-like things on its blades. He'll have to tell Harry about it later in case it was a ward. There is a barn nearby too, but he doesn't feel like walking and exploring that today. It doesn't that  take long for him to reach the back of the house.

"Doggie!"

The pink dog lifts his head towards him with a small smile before turning back to the two large stones lying in front of him.

"What are those boy?" Manny nears them and notices a large mound before each rock. With a small start, he realizes they are gravestones. "Oh. Are. . .these your old owners?"

The dog lets out a whimper and lowers his head towards the one inscribed with **_MURIEL BAGGE_**.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes. "I didn't mean to interrupt."

The dog looks so sad that Manny couldn't bring himself to walk away. He soon sits crossed-legged in the space between the mounds. "Its okay, Doggie, I know what it's like to lose someone you care about. I lost Roy." A pause at the dog's look of curiosity. "He's my dad. I uh. . .sort of just started calling him Roy like Harry and Robin after a while."

The dog lowers his head again.

"He wasn't always. . .right in the head," Manny continues. "He saw things that weren't there and things that were but that other people couldn't see. I couldn't stay with him after a while, because he kept on scaring me when he told about how the monsters he saw were going to get me. He got into an accident one day and well. . ."

He picks at his overall button with as he averts his gaze. The dog pushes his head under the boy's free hand in an attempt at comforting. Manny manages a smile. "It's okay though. If he wasn't like that, then I guess I never would've met Harry and Robin. Harry was Roy's business partner and Robin was Harry's friend and housemate. I didn't have any cousins or anything like that, so they took care of me. They're my family now."

Manny strokes the dog's snout. "Maybe you'd like to be part of our family too?"

The dog slowly withdraws his head.

"Sorry," Manny saye again. "Too early?"

He nods.

"Can we be friends at least? My name's Manny."

"Courage."

The boy's eyes widen. "You can talk!"

"Mhm."

Manny stares at him for a while and feels his head in case he has somehow gotten a bump or other head injury. "I'm. . . I'm not going crazy, am I?"

Courage shrugs.

Before he can dwell on that any longer, Harry opens the back door. Courage could've sworn that he saw strange green irises ringed with blue under the mess of hair before the strands cover it again. "Manny, it's getting dark."

The boy gets up and brushes the sand off his overalls.  "C'mon Courage, we better get inside."

Harry seems to stare. "You named that _thing_ Courage?"

Manny shrugs, pink canine at his heels. "I think it's nice name."

"What on earth made you choose that?"

The boy frowns. "I didn't choose it."

"Then how do you come up with Courage?"

"He told me."

Harry turns to the dog, then to Manny. He really hopes Roy's problems aren't starting to show in his son, because as right as he had been about Teachers and their usually violent and/or disturbing tendencies, the poor kid really doesn't need any more issues right now. Or ever. "Manny, are you alright?"

"Um, yeah?" he tilts his head. "Why?"

"Because dogs don't talk."

"But Robin could talk even before Paige messed around with us, and she was a talking sketchpad. And Tony could even though he was a clock. And Colin, and Gilbert, and-"

"That's different." The man kneels and holds Manny's head still with one hand while using the other to check for concussions. The boy looks fine. No signs of heatstroke or sunstroke or anything of that sort would cause hallucinations either.

"Harry. . .?"

"Are you sure you're okay? Did find anything odd in the house and eat it?"

Manny gently pushes the hands off. "Courage talked to me," he insists, pointing at the dog. "I'm not lying."

"He really isn't," says a voice near the ground.

Harry nearly jumps and his eyes turn so big that Courage can see them through the hair. The concentric circles of blue and green seems to glow in panic at how he spoke. "Holy shiii. . . .take mushrooms, you weren't kidding."

"Told you so!" the boy says cheerily.

He ignores the words and begins pushing the boy behind him, only for Manny to dart back out to where Courage is and stand protectively over him. "He didn't hurt me, Harry."

"Manny-"

The kid just crosses his arms defiantly and stays rooted to his spot. "If you won't let Courage in, then I'm staying with him out here!"

The facepalm/nose-pinching gesture. "Kid-"

"You can't make me go in-"

" _Please_ -"

"It's _his_ house! If you just _push him_ out then - then you aren't any better than Paige or Tony!"

Manny covers his mouth moment the words leave. "I -I didn't mean. . ."

Courage's fur bristles and the beginnings of a scream tickle his throat at the sight of Harry's tensed figure. The eyes glow ominously, the hair seems to shift like tentacles, and the shadows of wings sprout from his back. The dog growls warningly, surprised to find himself ready to defend the small boy he hardly knew in case the monster should strike.

But the attack doesn't come.

After a long minute, Harry lets out a long-drawn sigh. His eyes are hidden, his hair still, and the shadows dispell from him. Fear fades from both dog and boy. The man shifts, as if uncertain of what to do, then disappears back into the house. The door is left wide open.

Courage doesn't realize he's still frozen in place until Manny calls him from the doorway. "He won't fuss about letting you in now." The slight tremble in the boy's voice does not go unnoticed. "Come on Courage. You should probably get in before he changes his mind."

Manny doesn't take another step until he feels Courage's fur brush against his leg.

"I upset him a little, that's all." The shakiness is worse and he sounds like he is trying to reassure himself. Courage rubs his head against Manny's knee. They stayed like that until the first stars twinkle overhead.

"Hey boy?"

"Uh huh?"

"I don't think he's going to come back to the kitchen tonight. I'm gonna sleep here. Do you wanna stay here too?"

The pink dog heads to the corner by the stove and counter and curls up. There is just enough room for Manny to squeeze in beside him. Courage rests his head on the boy's lap, and he himself felt small arms curling around him.

"Goodnight Courage."

"Goodnight," he mumbles back.

Sometime that night, Courage wakes up to the musty sort of scent that Harry has. The man stands before them, a lumpy pillow and dusty, patched blanket -things from the bedroom upstairs, Courage recognizes- in his arms. He proceeds to place the pillow behind Manny's head and drape the quilt around the boy's shoulders with practiced ease. Then he gently brushes a lock of blue hair out of the boy's face.

"Goodnight, Manny," he muttered.

Courage watches him leave and wonders if what he saw was a dream until he slips back into slumber.


	3. First Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the four wake up in a dog's house for the first time.

" _HARRY_!"

The red-haired. . .well, man technically, if his current anatomy was to be taken into account, stirs in his armchair. No, he blinks blearily, Not his chair. His had always been clean enough to not have an entire layer of dust when they actually stayed in one place long enough to bother buying an armchair.

"Oh _Harry_!" Robin calls again. " _We've got a bit of a problem_!"

Harry thinks his friend/once business partner/fellow sufferer in their special little hell sounds like a lady trying to stay calm about a cockroach or mouse. Would've been funny if he wasn't so tired right now. With a groan, he gets up. He really wonders why his body can heal from being mutilated six ways to Sunday but can't get rid of the cricks in his back and neck. Shrignold's still passed out on the floor, less pale (periwinkle?) and with what looks like a butter knife stuck in his forearm, and Manny is still fast asleep in the corner of the kitchen, weird pink dog dozing on his lap.

"Coming!" he grumbles as he climbs the steps. The wood squeaks and creaks and grinds against his ears, making him sigh in the rememberance of a time When he didn't have those fleshy shells that caught way too many sounds for his liking.

The problem happens to be a computer in the attic, and it talks. It talks in a British accent, calling them twits several times from its desk. It's an old model, one that has a fat white shell and that seems to only have text on its screen that spells out insults and fluent sarcasm in yellow-green letters against a bottle green background. 

Harry supposes that the reason why Robin hasn't smashed it to smithereens yet is because of memories from Colin - Digital World, Digital Style, Digital Dancing, Digital Trauma and all that. That irritating beepy tune of that blasted device's song probably rings in his ears when he gets too close. His fear's actually a little ironic considering how fascinated he used to be about computers before that whole ordeal.

"You know you're. . .more immune to this one," Robin says as he casts him a sidelong glance. 

He snorts. "Only because _I_  looked away before it got too insane."

"Yeah well, get rid of it before Manny sees."

Harry trudges to the computer as it continues to spout insults, only stopping when he's right before it with a raised fist. It's screen turns blank for a few seconds, the first time it does so since Harry's heard it, then asks in a solemn voice:

"Can you tell me if the dog's alive, at least? The twit hasn't been taking care of himself since his owners kicked the bucket."

That stops him. A small thought pricks at him - it's the dog's house and technically it's the dog's computer too, and Manny will get upset if he breaks the dog's things, the sensitive little kid.

"Harry?" Robin calls, "What are you waiting for?!"

The computer's screen is blank, looking as if it's accepted its fate. Harry stares at it for a while, then slumps his shoulders. "I am going to regret this."

And he does about a month later, when the Teacher of Technology is found collapsed on the porch.

But for the present, the computer remains un-smashed in the attic much to Robin's chagrin, and Manny finally wakes up.

Manny's reaction towards a computer being in the house is a mix of gratitude for considering Courage's feelings and horror because _computer_ and _Colin_ and _DIGITAL WORLD._  The fact that it can talk and seems to have a mind of its own does not help, so he decides to avoid the attic like plague. 

Harry goes on to ignore the thing and check the house's condition. It's surprisingly intact for its age, and all they'd have to do is clean it up, place a few wards here and there to (hopefully) keep the monsters away, and install some ramps on the stairs to prevent Manny from breaking out in hives should he want to go up (how it is possible to be allergic to _stairs_ , none of them are entirely certain, but they more or less agree it's a side effect of their bodies being changed, and therefore Paige's fault.)

Shrignold's awake by the time he's done with his assessment, grumbling about Robin with the butter knife covered in his rainbow-colored blood in his grasp. "Where's the bird?"

Harry jabs a thumb towards the stairs, incidentally just as he comes down.

"Do we really, _really_ have to keep that-" Shrignold hurls the utensil at his throat, and the green-haired man catches it with ease. He rolls his eyes as he wipes the gunk off and shoves the knife back in his pocket. "Petty."

"Says the one who stabbed me for _what_  this time?"

"Bringing us to the middle of nowhere-"

"With a house-!"

"And a _computer_!"

The Teacher stares, then snickers, then breaks into full-out laughter. "And all you used was a _butter knife?_ Worth it," he howls. "So _very_ worth it!"

"Why you little-"

Harry barely holds him back from strangling the Teacher. "Not now," he says in a lower voice, "We have to start stocking this house and God knows where the nearest town is."

The man manages to rein in his anger with a few deep breaths. _"_ Fine _,"_ he grumbles, shaking himself free from his friend's hold. " _Fine_."

 


	4. Now Here

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which some matters are reviewed and learned

Oh _God_  they really are in the middle of Nowhere.

Robin wonders if the universe is playing a trick on them, because he's pretty sure they were just in Hereford, England before this.

Apparently Nowhere is somewhere in Kansas, which means that they're now in America. (Wonderful. He thinks, because moving around a country they actually knew wasn't hard enough already.) It reminds him of they play-town he once helped build for a very small Manny long before the lessons and running - the one of cardboard boxes with their designated businesses scrawled on top in ludicrously large letters and wide roads with the occasional toy car parked here and there. 

"Oh Courage," Many says, drawing Robin out from his memories of a better time. "Are you alright?"

No he is not, because the pink mutt's trembling in the boy's arms and his tongue's lolling out his mouth with an impossible amount of drool. Robin winces despite himself. He remembers the first time they jumped, the flare of colors and laughter and screaming and the urge for him to listen and sing until his ears bled and his vocal cords snapped. Lessons and songs are probably ringing in the dog's head now, looping a hundred times in a heartbeat. 

The dog begins to still as its eyes glaze over, and Manny begins to panic as he tears up, and so Robin groans as he marches over and flicks the dog in its (gross, slimy, _mucus-y_ ) nose.

The pink thing immediately yelps and leaps out of Manny's arms, holding its throbbing snout in its paws as it yelps in pain and dances about. The nasally sound that results is a little funny, to be honest.

"Hurts, doesn't it?"

The dog turns to Robin and - Huh, who knew a dog could give such a baleful look? Oh well, another useless fact to tuck away with all the other useless facts- he simply bends over so he's eye level with the mutt. "Good."

Then his eyes gain a terrible, hollow look that sends Courage shrinking to the ground. "Focus on that pain, won't you? On that hurt and anger your feeling right now, because if you're angry, you can feel, and if you can feel then they haven't gotten to you completely yet and pumped your skull with lies. Alright, dog?"

The canine manages a shaky nod, if only to get him to go away.

"Good boy," smiles the Duck Guy just as emptily, then he straightens himself again. "So Harry, I suppose we're going to start stocking up on supplies now?"

"Actually, I think you'd all better eat first." Shrignold's wings aren't gone yet, and his gold eyes seem to settle on Courage in particular. "What's the last meal you've had?"

"Sandwiches and sodas," Robin answers nonchalantly, "The other day? Or maybe it was the day before that. . ."

Manny raises his hand. "Harry gave me a milkshake before we went to save Robin."

Harry just shrugs.

The butterfly-man rolls his eyes. "Go on and eat then. Your bodies may reset but they're still human." He turns around to leave, only for Manny to tug his scarf.

He quickly lets go with an embarrassed sort of look. "Y-you're not staying with us?" 

"And eat leaves and roots and soy bricks? No thanks." His expression softens at Manny's look of disappointment and he ruffles the boy's blue hair. "Don't worry, I'm just going to pop over to the nearest flower field for some nectar. Still a bit tuckered out from yesterday, you see. I'll be back in an hour or two."

"O-okay." 

Shrignold smiles a bit before glancing at Courage once more. "Oh right, make sure to feed him too. He might come in handy later."

Then he disappears in flash of marshmallow shades that smells a little like flowers and chocolates and cologne.

"Show off," Robin mutters.

The passersby are strangely oblivious to the whole thing, but Courage supposes the citizens of Nowhere are to most things.

"So Courage," Manny says, kneeling and rubbing his head, "Think you can show us around town?"

~ ~ ~

It's been a long time since Courage has eaten. So long, in fact, that he's surprised when the gnawing in his gut disappears because at some point he had come to view it as a sensation rather like the coarse sand and harsh light of the desert- ever-present and unchangeable.

When he finally looks up from his bowl on the floor, he sees the three still having their meatless meal. Salad and mash and tofu. Leaves and roots and soy bricks. 

Manny catches him staring. He smiles and lowers a spoonful of salad. "Want some?" 

Courage can't tell if he's joking or not, but he politely shakes his head.

The boy gives him a pat. "Sorry you only got can food, but we uh. . .we don't really eat meat. . .anymore. . ." For a moment his eyes look awfully like Robin's earlier, but it's wiped away in an instant. "But you go on ahead okay?"

Courage watches him turn back to his food and eat it. Manny doesn't look like he hates the vegetarian dishes, but he doesn't seem to particularly enjoy it either. They're all like that actually, expressions like children eating their greens just because there's nothing else. The only meat in their whole platter had been bacon bits they requested be separated from the salad, and they had eyed that with a blend of disgust and wistfulness before having Manny tip all of it over the dog's food.

Courage looks at his bowl again, then eats every last morsel. He even licks it clean.

~ ~ ~

Jimmy Bon's a surprisingly nice for a pig-man. 

He cheerfully offered them directions the moment they asked, saying how he's glad to know that the old farmer's house has new owners and such. "You even took in old Courage here."

Robin glanced at the mutt on the ground. "You know him?"

The pig-man snorted as he laughed. "No no, my folks did though, bless their souls. Told me stories about him. Ma always said he was one of the sweetest little doggies she had ever laid eyes on, always lookin' out for his dear old Muriel. And Pop? He said he was the biggest scaredy-cat with the biggest heart."And at that, he looked at Courage. "Haven't seen you since I was a wee little piggy. Nice to see you're still kickin' after all these years."

Then he had wished them well and even given them some extra food to go to keep them fed until they'd settled in.

Harry's currently holding the paper napkin map, so Robin's tries to peer over his ridiculously high shoulder. It is then that the wind picks up, giving Robin a faceful of hair for his trouble.

" _Mmph!"_

He slaps the strands away in time to see Shrignold's rainbow transport magic dropping a note into Manny's hands.

The child frowns. " _Something's off,"_ he reads. " _going to look into things. Use this to move_." He lifts something small and knot-like attached to the paper. "What's this?"

"Let me have a look at that." Robin takes the note. The writing was done in a hurry- there's even a light smear of Shrignold's rainbow ichor. He turns to the knot. It has the fragility and texture one would expect of a weak twine, and hums lightly with power and the sound of violins. He hates it already. "A Celtic love knot. I'll hold onto this, if that's alright with you."

He detaches the knot and returns the paper to Manny. The boy sticks it in the front pocket of his overalls where it joins several others. Robin makes sure he turns away before letting the displeasure show on his face.

He catches up the redheaded giant already walking again as he looks at the map. "Harry."

"Yes?"

"Should we be concerned about Manny?"

"Other than the fact that he lacks a proper home and education beyond third grade, has been subjected to trauma he doesn't deserve, and is being hunted like you and me? No. I think he's fine."

Robin scowls. "You know that isn't what I mean."

"We can't do anything about Shrignold," he replies, hair swaying. "He's the only reason we're still intact."

"Manny likes him though. What if that pesky bee turns?"

Sometimes, Robin really hates how calm Harry can be.

"If Shrignold wanted to return us to the classes, he would've done so already. Besides. . ." Harry glances back where Manny's holding Courage.

"It's okay if you don't remember how to get around," he smiles, petting the canine's head. "Things change whether you want them to or not. But hey, at least we can le- find out where everything is together!"

"Manny likes everyone."

His friend huffs with a pout, and it reminds Harry of when he still had a beak. "Everyone implies people. The Teachers aren't people."

"Shrignold is to him."

Robin stays silent for the rest of the walk.

~ ~ ~

Courage really is a good listener.

While Harry and Robin busy themselves with stowing away enough supplies for an apocalypse, Courage stays with him on the porch as the sun sets. He doesn't say anything, only giving a little nods and such to show he's listening even though Manny knows he wouldn't understand half of what he's saying. It's nice.

"They don't ever _say_ it out loud anymore, but I know they still don't trust him." Manny hugs his knees a little tighter. "Well, I know Robin doesn't. He doesn't like a lot of things, since the uh. . .classes. Not computers or chicken or those little clocks you can bring around. Those uh, ones with a chain and fancy little cover that pops open. . .pocket watch! That's the word."

He beams rather proudly for remembering that. "Robin used to carry one everywhere- it was gold and silver. Pretty and expensive. He loved it." The smile drops. "But after Tony he smashed it on the ground then smashed it with a hammer then threw it into a fireplace then took the melted bits and threw them away as far as he could."

The look Courage gives him is the kind a person would give by raising an eyebrow. _Overkill_?

"I uh. . .helped him." And under his breath, with a memory of broken clocks and calendars and even an hourglass or two among the wreckage as he stood smiling with Robin despite the red of their hands from the cuts, Manny mutters something like "There were a lot of time-things to break."

The dog snorts and Manny can't tell if it's in amusement or disbelief or something in between even though he's learned how to tell things like that. Learned from Shrignold, he thinks, and remembers the topic at hand.

"So back to Shrignold. I trust him, I don't kn. . .well, I kind of have an idea why." The blue-haired boy looks behind them, but his friends aren't in the living room anymore. He glances down at Courage, and Courage looks back up at him, head slightly tilted in a quizzical manner. He drops his voice. "Courage, could you um, not tell them? About any of this?"

It's a little silly to ask that of a dog, he knows, but Courage isn't a normal dog. His little pink paw mimes a zipper across his mouth, and Manny manages another smile before it's lost with his words.

"Shrignold's a Teacher. Teachers are. . .they're like gods? I think?" Manny glances at Courage. "Do dogs um, believe in gods?"

"Met a God-bone," he replies, "Storm goddess. Goose-god. Volcano god." He thinks of the Harvest Moon and the Valkyrie, but he doesn't know if they count.

The boy blinks. "Wow. Um, alright." He doesn't know what Teachers of geese and volcanoes would do, but he doesn't feel like finding out. "So Teachers are kind of like gods. They can do things that they're the teachers of. And Shrignold, he's the teacher of. . ."He looks around them again, then counts to five and whispers. " _of Love."_

Courage frowns. "Love?" he says slowly, "Teacher of-"

Manny slaps a yellow hand over his muzzle. The hand's too soft to have hurt him, but the dogs stiffens in surprise anyway. Manny quickly takes it back. "Sorry, sorry! Just-just don't say it, okay? Not all at once, anyway. Teachers are like gods and gods can hear their names and titles. Shrignold's not really his name, so we can say it all we like, but saying Teacher of- that. He might hear it. I mean, I don't know if he knows this stuff yet, but if he hears me calling, he might listen and I don't want him to know. But yeah, Love." When he finishes spewing that, he finds Courage staring at him. He checks his hands for a moment, then the pink dog's snout. "I. . .I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Courage shakes his head.

Manny sighs in relief. "Sorry again. Where was I? Right. Love. So he's love, and so. . . I guess he can do love-things." He stops lacing his fingers together in ways that make them seem like boneless noodles. "I don't mean like kissing and hugging and whatever else couples do when there aren't kids. I mean, he _can_ do that, but he can also make scary people suddenly like him, as if they've been friends forever. Make them feel like they're good, that they love him, or that he loves them, like he's the most important thing in the world and that they'd do anything for him."

"He's never done that to _me,"_ Manny says quickly, defensively. "At least, I don't think so, because I know my favorite people in the world are still Harry and Robin. But he's. . ." His shoulder droop. "He's the next favorite, and I don't know if it's because he's made me like him. I don't like not knowing if he's done something, because I really like how he's this nice big brother I don't have, and I want to like him because I like him, and not because he's done weird magicky stuff to me. Does. . .does that make sense?"

He doesn't expect the eyes that look at him-not quite understanding, but still trying.

"Hehe," he says in a poor attempt at laughter, because Courage shouldn't bother feeling bad for him. "Maybe I'm just-just being silly. I mean, I only have Harry, and Robin, and him. So maybe that's why, I just don't have anyone else to like!" He tries to laugh again, but it sounds so flat and sad that he gives up. "Sorry," he mutters. "I can't really tell these things to them. They're so busy already. Sorry I'm dumping it all on you. It's not your problem anyway. Please um, forget all that stuff I just said, if you want to."

Manny looks away and into the dull, empty desert, blinking away dust or whatever must've gotten into these weird wet eyes. He suddenly feels something warm and furry nudge it's way into his lap, and there's a soft growling sound almost like purring but with more of a whine. He surprises himself when he chuckles, and when he doesn't just pet the dog but wraps his arms around him in a hug. Courage squirms a little in his grip until he manages to lick the boy's face. Manny thinks that he can almost feel love from him and not just plain sympathy.

Manny smiles, and it's a smile that reaches his eyes as they meet Courage's. "You know, I'm glad I'm here now. That all of us are here now, wherever we are. It's nice talking to you, Courage. You're a great listener."

Courage stays in his lap and his arms as the child gazes at the vivid hues of a desert sunset.

"Maybe I can have someone else to like now."


End file.
